Aildrik
Savant
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2014
- Messages
- 159
I have been playing with a few friends since beta and wanted to comment some more on the current state of affairs.
First off, from a technical standpoint, the game is in a good place. There was some sort of corruption/database issue soon after the initial release which culminated in a few days of downtime while they tackled the issue head on. It sucked being offline but I commend the team for making a tough decision and just taking the hit to solve the problem and not band-aid it. The client is stable, I am not being disconnected or kicked offline, the client is not crashing, etc. So from the technical stability standpoint I would rate the game highly which is a good sign this early in release.
From a game polish standpoint, I would say the biggest thing I except to happen is a pass over on professions. Currently, some of the professions like blacksmithing are obviously an effort to hit 100(GM) skill, but very doable if you invest the time. Others such as carpentry require very rare woods (blightwood) to skill to GM. An hour of gathering lumber might net only 50-60 of this rare lumber. It isn't a show stopper but I would say certainly within the next month or so I would not be surprised if they do a pass over on professions and make some balance changes.
Beyond that, I am sure a lot of people who have been following the game are wondering just how much like UO Legends of Aria is and feels. I would say the team did a really good job of making a game that is a spiritual successor to UO. You have a lot of the same tradeskills. You have magic requiring reagents (although there are only 4, whereas Ultimas had 8). This game is a little easier on players in that you have areas outside of towns that are free from PvP combat. That said, all of the higher tier tradeskill material and basically mid level and beyond combat happens in "Wilderness" areas which basically means you are subject to PvP combat. In my first week of playing I found this out pretty quickly when I visited one of the mines near town, but in the wilderness technically, to mine some higher tier metals. A guild had decided to take over the mine and was killing any non-guild miners. Thankfully, the game world is large enough that if you do your own exploring, you are likely to find safer out of the way areas which are less frequented.
I have not had a chance to dive really deeply into all of the PvE dungeons, but the PvE combat is miles beyond the joke AI you had in UO where you could do crap like drop boxes around your character to prevent mobs from even attacking you. Even the starter areas (graveyards, bandit camps) are dangerous for new players.
I will toss up some screenshots here shortly of what I have encountered in game, but I would say if you enjoyed UO; if you are looking for a solid sandbox RPG, I would give the game a serious look. No subscriptions, just buy the game for $30.
First off, from a technical standpoint, the game is in a good place. There was some sort of corruption/database issue soon after the initial release which culminated in a few days of downtime while they tackled the issue head on. It sucked being offline but I commend the team for making a tough decision and just taking the hit to solve the problem and not band-aid it. The client is stable, I am not being disconnected or kicked offline, the client is not crashing, etc. So from the technical stability standpoint I would rate the game highly which is a good sign this early in release.
From a game polish standpoint, I would say the biggest thing I except to happen is a pass over on professions. Currently, some of the professions like blacksmithing are obviously an effort to hit 100(GM) skill, but very doable if you invest the time. Others such as carpentry require very rare woods (blightwood) to skill to GM. An hour of gathering lumber might net only 50-60 of this rare lumber. It isn't a show stopper but I would say certainly within the next month or so I would not be surprised if they do a pass over on professions and make some balance changes.
Beyond that, I am sure a lot of people who have been following the game are wondering just how much like UO Legends of Aria is and feels. I would say the team did a really good job of making a game that is a spiritual successor to UO. You have a lot of the same tradeskills. You have magic requiring reagents (although there are only 4, whereas Ultimas had 8). This game is a little easier on players in that you have areas outside of towns that are free from PvP combat. That said, all of the higher tier tradeskill material and basically mid level and beyond combat happens in "Wilderness" areas which basically means you are subject to PvP combat. In my first week of playing I found this out pretty quickly when I visited one of the mines near town, but in the wilderness technically, to mine some higher tier metals. A guild had decided to take over the mine and was killing any non-guild miners. Thankfully, the game world is large enough that if you do your own exploring, you are likely to find safer out of the way areas which are less frequented.
I have not had a chance to dive really deeply into all of the PvE dungeons, but the PvE combat is miles beyond the joke AI you had in UO where you could do crap like drop boxes around your character to prevent mobs from even attacking you. Even the starter areas (graveyards, bandit camps) are dangerous for new players.
I will toss up some screenshots here shortly of what I have encountered in game, but I would say if you enjoyed UO; if you are looking for a solid sandbox RPG, I would give the game a serious look. No subscriptions, just buy the game for $30.
